The present invention is directed to latching actuators and in particular to the systems that control them.
For many automatic flow-control installations, such as automatic toilet and urinal flushers, one particularly stringent design requirement is that the system consume as little power as possible. The reason for this varies from case to case, but it is typically that the circuitry and other apparatus required to make the flusher""s operation automatic are quite frequently provided on a retrofit basis. That is, manual flushers are being converted to automatic operation. Unless the retrofit unit can be battery-operated or otherwise self-contained, the installation process is quite expensive, typically requiring that walls be opened to provide the necessary wiring. That expense can be avoided if the automatic system is battery-operated, but a battery-operated system""s acceptability depends greatly on battery life.
A significant determinant of the battery""s longevity is the energy that valve actuation consumes. So retrofit systems tend to employ valves of the latching variety, i.e., valves whose actuators require power to open or close the valve but not to keep it open or closed. The use of valves that employ such actuators has greatly extended the feasibility of employing battery-operated systems. Still, such systems would be more attractive if battery longevity could be extended further.
The present invention achieves this result by reducing the energy waste that usually occurs in driving the actuator""s armature. The approach employed by the invention involves determining when the armature has reached the end of its travel. In accordance with one of the invention""s aspects, actuator-coil drive ends when it has. This can reduce energy consumption greatly, because coil-drive duration thereby does not always need to be long enough to meet worst-case requirements. This can result in a significant battery-longevity increase.
In accordance with another of the invention""s aspects, the drive applied to the actuator coil is increased if the armature has not reached the end of its travel within a predetermined duration. This allows less coil drive to be used ordinarily, since the coil drive does not always need to be great enough to overcome the resistance that can occasionally result from, for instance, accretion of foreign matter. This coil-drive reduction, too, can contribute to longevity.